How a career in Design can alleviate unemployment and boost the economy of India

Design is more important than before as it collaborates with engineering, business and the pure sciences to boost the overall economy, writes Nandita Abraham

Unemployment, underemployment, demand for a skilled workforce and scaling new economic heights are the biggest challenges facing India today.

With investment in design, innovation and technical expertise fueling creative industries, India can seamlessly reach its goal of becoming a $5 trillion economy in the next few years. ‘Design in India’ is the next logical step after ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’.

Today, Design is more important than before as it collaborates with engineering, business and pure science to boost the overall economy. Smart design driven with data analytics (understanding consumer behaviour and designing solutions) is a big leap forward. In this scenario, the current curriculums are obsolete. If higher education has to be a game-changer, then curriculum must fuse with information drawn from artificial intelligence tools using market analysis in the present ecosystem.

IMPACT ON INDUSTRYOver the years, our education system has undergone sustained reforms. Yet, on an international scale, India is still lagging. Students have given dismal performances in general aptitude tests. This disturbing revelation was a part of the India Skill Report 2018, published by Wheebox. It further adds that unemployment across educational sectors is 54.4%.

Basic skills are lacking and both industry and recruiters are a worried lot today. Clearly, there is a huge gap. This is a consequence of outdated curriculums, lacklustre pedagogies, ill-equipped faculty and a lack of real engagement between industry and educators.

In order to empower students to contribute and create, and not just follow instructions, there is a need to focus on speculation, experimentation and collaboration with the industry. The time has come to constantly engage with the world’s leading academics and technology to keep abreast of best practices. Recruiters often comment on the energy and enterprise of our students – their ability to see things differently and get things done. This clearly is an outcome of the experience that they have been through and the learning that they have had. These methods could be incorporated in initiatives of the New Education Policy.

In today’s digital age, the New National Education policy by aiming to transform the Indian education system with major changes in higher education and schools, holds immense potential.

It is a welcome step in the right direction. There is an increased focus on research and new learning. Parallelly, one needs to create teachers as the tools of change.
Teaching cannot be restricted to the classrooms. The walls must fall. How? Make experiential and immersive learning an integral part of school and college curriculums. Look beyond theory and the practice of learning by rote.

Here is what can be done to boost the government’s plans:Unleashing the power of creative industries: In the age of social media, youngsters are more informed. Creativity, curiosity, innovation, collaboration, empathy, risk-taking and learning from failures should be top learnings in schools and universities.

It is important to integrate classrooms with external environments in order to solve real-world problems. This will further boost the creative industries and creative economy that employs close to 4 million people and contributes 2.8% to India’s GDP. Bringing in design research and design thinking can create magic. As the government prepares to launch higher institutes of learning, Design and creativity could be the game-changer.

Looking beyond: The creative industries are a critical tool for innovation because of their implementation in multiple other industries, thereby synergising with other sectors. This sector is strategically important to boost employment, productivity, and sustainable economic growth based on communication, care and community inclusion—the key tenets of nation building.One can no longer work in silos. The government must look at working together with the design thinkers to create products and ideas that have the customer in mind.

Educators as partners: Growth in education is possible only if changes are made in education curriculum and the approach of faculty.
Instead of having academic specialty, the demand today is to have a good teacher who is inspiring, proactive, motivating and most importantly, encourages students to push boundaries.

After all, it is not just information but also the attitude and life skills that matters. Mentors/teachers impart these skills that carry young designers through their life and work.

The National Education Policy has the potential to transform India’s higher education and match global standards. Integrating Design, creativity and research will allow for a growth hack of the economy. This, along with schemes like Aspire and SFURTI and integration with technology, AI, data will bring about the change that we want to see.

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